


Aegis

by maharieel



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-14 00:55:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7145513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maharieel/pseuds/maharieel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lilah and the others get caught in a tight situation that doesn't end particularly well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aegis

Lilah could do nothing but stare as the blade tore into Alistair. She wanted to run, to defend, to throw her skin and bone under the sharpened iron but her feet would not tear themselves from the earth. Maybe a part of her did not want to risk her own life. Maybe her own selfish shortcomings would be the thing that led to his demise. 

She would not have it.

Pushing past barriers she had thrown up herself, Lilah ran to him as he collapsed in a heap. Her daggers were bloodied in her hands as she threw herself at the Darkspawn, a retched snarl on her lips. The creature had barely turned to her before its spine shattered under her blades. It would not take him from her, not today, not ever. The incredible amount of blood hit her as she leapt to stand over Alistair’s limp form. It was everywhere. So much blood. Lilah tried not to let the tears in his armour and skin faze her. He needed her to be strong. 

“Morrigan!” she screamed. The fucking Darkspawn were coming at her from every angle and she couldn’t attack them all at once. Not to mention the sheer size of Alistair beneath her – she could barely spin around without stepping on him, her legs were so fucking short. His awkward, splayed position combined with the blood-coated stone didn’t do much for the situation, either.

Lilah screamed for Morrigan again. She was running out of time.

An enormous spider transformed into the dark-haired witch Lilah knew mid-air, headed straight for them. The sight gave Lilah some much needed strength despite the numerous injuries now covering her. Morrigan’s staff twirled in her hands as she carved a path towards her surrounded comrades, face set in rage. A searing pain bit at Lilah’s shoulder. She plunged her dagger into her attacker’s skull just as it tugged its own weapon free from her skin. The pain didn’t linger, although she noticed an absent tingling rushing up and down her arm. 

“Where’s Oghren?” Lilah spat as she tripped over one of Alistair’s arms and nearly lost her defensive position above him. Her blades met the chest of a Darkspawn and kept her upright. The familiar thrum of a barrier encircled Lilah as she reorientated herself. 

“I have – no idea,” Morrigan panted as she smashed her staff into something’s skull. 

A Hurlock Alpha began storming towards Lilah and all she could do was hold her daggers before her and snarl. Not that it fazed the creature. “Help,” Lilah snapped, “now!” 

She could almost hear the sneer on Morrigan’s lips. Lilah had no right to be so harsh, not now. Not when the man she loved was bleeding out at her feet. Not when she was about to join him. Lilah met Morrigan’s eyes through the fray and noticed a gleam in their golden irises. “Get down!”

Lilah dropped instantly. She threw herself down on top of Alistair, covering his face as much as possible. His skin was clammy and wet beneath her cheek, but she didn’t have the luxury to see where all the blood was coming from. Morrigan’s scream echoed through the room and Lilah clutched him as tight as she could. She felt the tip of a sword tear deep across her back as the Darkspawn took their opportunity to strike. 

A cry of pain escaped her lips as the room exploded in light, the thrum of Morrigan’s magic shaking Lilah to her core.

###### later

The echoing pitter-patter of the rain on the tent was more soothing than Lilah had expected. It served as a distraction if nothing else, and she had always been fond of the nights when the sky cried. It made her feel not so alone. And Creators was she thankful for the rain that night, thankful for the cool breezes that left her boiling skin sizzling, thankful that they had been able to set up camp before the downpour began. 

Thankful that Alistair was still fucking alive.

Lilah absent-mindedly stroked his short hair, eyes vacantly trained on Morrigan’s hands as she worked her healing magic. They all knew it was not the witch’s speciality, but no-one was complaining about the amount of time it was taking Morrigan to knit the gruesome gash across Alistair’s abdomen back together. They were all still bloodied from the fight – the gash along Lilah’s back sung out in pain whenever she so much as breathed too heavily and Oghren was trying desperately to drown the pain of his broken forearm with what ale he’d packed – but neither of them complained. Morrigan herself was not in the best condition, with barely any mana remaining and no regeneration potions left after nearly an hour of trying to keep Alistair’s insides inside. Nevertheless, everyone had agreed at some point that Alistair’s health came first.

At what point Morrigan had begun to care for his wellbeing, Lilah did not know. 

“Tis all I can do for now,” Morrigan breathed, eyes hooded and fingers trembling. 

Lilah pushed her friend’s hands away when she moved to heal the wound on her back. Morrigan didn’t protest, instead shuffled out of the tent into the rain. Lilah suspected she passed out in her tent the second she reached it.

“I can bandage that,” Lilah said quietly, too exhausted to raise her voice over the rain. “If you need me to.”

Oghren smiled lazily at her through his beard. “Not to worry, lass. I’ll heal. I’m tough like that.”

A grunt. “Fine.”

To most her reply may have sounded rude, condescending even, but Oghren had spent enough time with the elf to know she was not the best with her words. Truthfully, his arm sodding hurt and he usually would’ve gladly accepted her offer, but the sorry sight of her sitting there with the human lad’s head in her lap, the pair of them bloodied and broken, made him endure. He could bandage his own arm and badger Wynne about resetting the bone when they returned to camp.  
“Sorry about the fight, you know,” he said as he made to lie down.

 _Sorry I wasn’t there_ , Lilah knew he meant to say. She shook her head slightly, her bloodshot eyes meeting his very briefly before falling back to gaze at Alistair. “Don’t fuss over it. Shit happens.”

“Huh, sodding right with that one, kid. Get some rest now, don’t want ya passing out tomorrow.”

She mumbled what sounded vaguely like ‘Sure’, but Oghren passed out before he could process her reply. Lilah groaned inwardly as he started snoring softly, but was too tired to voice her objection. She’d spent enough nights out on the road with Oghren to have become accustomed to his comfortable – and noisy – slumber. She’d always be jealous of how quickly he fell asleep.

And that he couldn’t dream. 

Creator’s, she’d sleep so much better if it was just her and the dark. She hated the Fade almost as much as she hated the fucking archdemon. At least the archdemon had only started planting nightmares in her mind over the past few months . . . the Fade had been doing that since before she even knew what dreaming was. 

Alistair stirred in his lap. She snapped her weary eyes to meet his for the first time since he’d fallen. It took him a minute to focus on her face, and even once he had he still looked horribly disorientated. Lilah ran a hand along his jaw, a tear or two tumbling down her cheeks. Her eyes flicked to his hazardously bandaged abdomen out of habit.

He opened his mouth in protest to her sadness, but she rested her fingers on his lips, forgetting that they were caked with blood – his blood. He kissed them softly anyway.

“I’m okay,” he whispered against her fingers. 

“Right.”

He frowned slightly, a half wince. “Why are my feet wet?”

“You’re too tall for the tent.”

“Right.”

Lilah moved her hand to cup his face. His skin was still a bit clammy and he was still much too pale, but the fact that he was awake made her heart swell. She hushed him, urging him to get some sleep. Despite the protest in his eyes, it didn’t take long for the Fade to claim its newest victim for the evening. Regardless of the lecture Wynne would give her when they returned to camp, Lilah didn’t join him. Instead she kept vigil throughout the night, eyes on Alistair as his chest slowly rose and fell. After the mayhem of the battle and stress of seeing the first person she’d ever admitted to loving fall before her eyes, Lilah was not going to risk losing him to the night.

Besides, she was so much better at battling her demons when she had her eyes open.


End file.
